Game of War - Fire Age has gone from strength to strength since its initial release, so we thought it was about time that we helped newcomers to the game figure out the best strategies to be the very best at it. Or at least, not quite as bad as they could be without any assistance. Take note of these helpful tips and tricks, and enjoy making your way towards world domination.

First things, first

Most games like these are good at teaching you the basics and Game of War - Fire Age is no different.

Follow the quest lines it offers up at first. They'll run you through the basics better than any explanation could offer, plus they get the foundations settled ready for your steady path towards being the best.

Be aware of one particular quest, though. It asks you to scout another player, which is potentially a recipe for disaster if you annoy the wrong person.

Pick out a player with a random name full of letters and numbers. That tends to mean they haven't fully thrown themselves into the game because they haven't renamed themselves, so they're probably quite weak. Even better, they might have abandoned the game at some earlier point.

Also, keep an eye on what alliance the player being scouted is part of. Safety in numbers is key here and you don't want to annoy someone that's part of a big alliance.

Stick Together

Join an alliance as soon as possible. Game of War - Fire Age isn't like other games where being anti-social is fine. Much of your success is going to be down to being part of an alliance.

For one thing, an alliance means you can ask others to help speed up your timers when building or researching things. Plus, in return you can do the same for other players.

Build a name and reputation for yourself. People are more likely to help you if they know who you are, rather than being an anonymous number.

Remember to follow orders. Alliances are serious business and while they can protect you from attack, you need to be a team player, too. It might sound occasionally tedious but it'll pay off in the long run.

Having said that, don't mouth off in general chat. While you want to build a name for yourself within the alliance, you don't want to draw undue attention from others who might be keen to bring you down a peg or two.

Resources are Everything

Keep your resources ticking along wherever possible. Game of War - Fire Age is pretty tactical here as you have limited space to allocate to your resources.

Those wanting to amass a huge army might want to focus on farm building for the sake of food production, but a more balanced approach is better.

Build around 10 farms with the rest of the spaces divided up between the other resources and watch as you're rarely short of anything for particularly long.

Build, Build, Build

As soon as you've joined an alliance, you can use a free teleport to move your city to a location near your allies. Do it. It'll help. A lot.

Once that's done, focus on upgrading your stronghold. Don't do it in a different order as once your stronghold reaches level 6, you lose that free teleport.

Build plenty of villas to gain silver, which is vital for research. As well as that, try to keep everything reasonably balanced.

Hospitals are useful because they help get your troops back up to scratch after a rough battle, but you also need plenty of barracks to train those troops up.

Level up that academy as soon as possible for even better units to throw your enemy's way.

Try to keep your storehouse in line with your other resource levels, so nothing goes to waste.

Finally, don't forget the Gymnos. It ensures that if you get killed, a certain percentage of your hero's experience points transfer to the new hero, meaning you don't miss out as much as you could. Each Gymnos upgrade adds to the percentage gain.

Keeping Busy

Take on alliance quests and daily quests every time you play. Free rewards are handy, plus it'll make the game more interesting than simple busywork.

Scout for abandoned places to attack. Some players will have given up a while back but still have left plenty of resources for you to gain for easy profit. After all, there's no fear of retaliation!